We’re on the way — hanging out in Bruges, on the way to Germany next weekend. I’ve been reading up on Reddit and talking with colleagues about what games to check out. Chris says that he’s pre-ordered a bunch of Japanese games and unique items. Ryan is looking forward to seeing the selection of Haba games. If it is anything like years past, there will be a large kid-friendly display with a broad selection of games. On the whole, we’re all looking forward to seeing the big presentations of all of the big gaming companies in their collective face-to-the public showing. Apparently, Pandemic Legacy is to premier at Essen, so that’s something to see. 504 also sounds like a completely novel way to play a game, so it will be worth a look (and it’s always pleasant to chat with Friedemann and Henning). Though we’re still unsure about luggage space to haul games home, there is still the siren call of the flea market and used games area (still trying to pick up a reasonably-priced copy of Infarkt).

Now that I have all of the people together that I would want to talk to, this might also be the time to get a couple of podcast episodes in the can.

It’s been a busy year on a lot of fronts, and sometimes the creative gets pushed to the back burner for the sake of the professional.  For better or for worse, the professional is less of a concern at the moment, so it’s time do dive back into the creative.

I’ve been talking with some of the gaming group about the theoretical podcast (The Board Room?) and some podcast and site features.  I am putting some work into the writing on Ludography and I am going to hammer out a production schedule for content.

Coming soon:

• Thrift Score Report — what’s been found, and what you should be looking for when you are scouring the thrift and used market.
• Who Got the Better Deal? — Two or more people exchanged games, who came out ahead?
• How Do I Start This Thing? — Getting into games and how to work toward a good collection you can enjoy.
• The Game Group — What’s been hitting the table?  What’s a hit? What’s a miss?
• D-Sign — musings on creating games and abstracted notions of what themes could be explored and how one would get there.
• Like it or Limpet — What games are good and what games should be fed to mollusks in an awful pun of a name.
• The Grind — drinking coffee, getting very excited and jabbering on and on while making fewer and fewer cogent points.
• The Sale Pile — what we’re eliminating from our collections and why.

Not a lot has happened to Ludography.net in the past several months, but all of that is about to change.  Within the last week I’ve received packages of Chris Cieslik’s Heat and Crash Games’s Yardmaster Express, and I plan to have unboxing videos up for them soon.  I’m also awaiting delivery of the new Resistance expansions — Hostile Intent & Hidden Agenda — as well as Escape: Zombie City from Queen.  I’m a little behind the curve from the convention in November, but I also have One Night Ultimate Werewolf : Daybreak that is waiting in the wings to hit the table and get a review.

If you are interested in following me, my gaming Twitter account is @LudographyScott (https://twitter.com/LudographyScott).  I tweet occasionally about things gaming-related, but I’ll have more to come in the new year, highlighting new content on Ludography.net as well as what’s going on in the gaming world.

Here’s looking forward to a great 2015!

Re-Re-Re..  Re-theme  (Retribuo):  Great games don’t always have great themes; sometimes great themes never get great games.   In this segment we explore the options that should have been considered for some of the world’s boardgames.

e.g.
Nuns on the Run:  Harry Potter
Love Letter:  Adventure Time Re-theme

Collector’s Rummy:  For sme of us, like Scott, the board game hobby offers one more delight — collecting!  and the subsequent re-shelving, again, and again.    There are some great collectible games out there.  Whether it’s a publisher’s series or just an odd misprint or rare unpublished gem, we’ll talk about them and see how far down the OCD rabbit hole we can take one of the hosts.

e.g.
alea serieses
Jati

Parlor Game Pundits: Game reviews.  Scott has a great outline for game reviews…  Clear and concise, they offer a great analytical look at the game.  Our other contributors will add to this with their unique viewpoints…  Ryan will highlight the art and aesthetics, Jeff offers an offbeat newcomer’s perspective, and we hope to provide other industry insiders opinions as well.

Memory Lane:  Let’s go back to those technicolor, pre-cable-TV days…  sit down in the chairs outside the neighborhood filling station, with our ice cold 12 oz Coke bottles…  (mine is Mellow Yellow) and chat about some of the coolest games from our past.  Games that stand out or live in infamy…   After that we can go skip stones at the ‘crick.

Thriftstore Snapshot:  Got $20 in your pocket?  Wanna go pop some tags?  In this segment we take a look at an actual thrift store shelf and give you the run down on what you want to take away from what there is to offer.

Previews and Prognoses:  Let’s look at the upcoming games.  What titles deserve the hype, which titles probably don’t…  We’ll give our take on the properties, the games, the feedback and more.

Province, a 2-player microgame from an early 2014 Kickstarter shipped this week and is now in funders’ hands.

The first bit of original content is coming within the next week — Ryan and I are writing reviews on some games.

My weekly group is getting together tonight, and I’m looking into getting some audio recorded for the Podcast, either some reviews or after-action reports on what we just played, or some side commentary and discussion on other topics.
Continue reading Game group meeting this evening →

I had a meeting with Ryan on Friday and we discussed some ideas and potential products for Ludograpy.net, including several things we have talked about for years. I’ll post images and more information as it becomes available.

Welcome to Ludography.net!  I have big plans for this site and what it will become.  With hard work and dedication, this will be an internet hub for games and gaming information.